Influence of Microstructural Changes and Grain Boundary Precipitation on the Behavior of 25Ni-15Cr-2Ti Superalloy during High Temperature Creep

Iron-base superalloys are well known materials having excellent high temperature properties .They are used in turbo superchargers and turbine engines required for aerospace and power plants. In this investigation precipitation hardenable X5NiCrTi26-15 was used to study the influence of microstructural changes on the creep behavior at different conditions . Different creep cycles were applied for both base alloy and laser beam welded alloy (6kW CO2 ) namely at 600 , 625 and 650C at applied controlled creep stresses of 400 and 450 MPa . The base material sheet was used in as solution annealed state ( 30 min, 960 C, WQ ).The specimens were hardened in two steps (24h,760 C, FC and 16 h, 705 C,AC ) before being investigated . The microstructural changes due to grain boundary sliding, intergranual fracture perpendicular to the metal flow axis , and the type ,morphology of different secondary carbides were measured and discussed . To examine the changes in microstructure Philips EM 400 TEM with an acceleration voltage of 120KV, and SEM as well as light microscopy were used . It was found that , laser beam welded structure investigated after creep deformation at temperatures lower than 650C and at controlled stress of 400 and 450 MPa , showed a textured weld metal zone with dendrite having lower hardness combined with a higher creep resistance than that for base material .It was found also that creeping at 650C at the same stress values offsets any gain in creep resistance of welded joints as compared with that for the base material at the same conditions.